Bahamas: Success on Many Levelsby Jan Tritten

[Editor's Note: This editorial originally appeared in Midwifery Today, Issue 76, Winter 2005.]

Meeting of Bahamian midwives

As Marina Alzugaray explains in Reclaiming a Cuban Heritage, the Bahamian midwives really know how to make others feel welcome to their country. They were so open and ready for us to be there with them at the Midwifery Today Bahamas conference in September; they made us feel a part of them. I also felt that our accomplishments there were great because we all worked heart-in-hand and synergistically. We had formal, serious times, but also lots of joyful singing, dancing, laughing and learning. We were engaged with each other as we pondered our herstory and our future. We shared the culture of birth and midwifery. We honored our elder midwives and we honored midwifery and motherbaby.

One of the greatest accomplishments that came out of the conference was the genesis by the Bahamian midwives of a new midwifery organization. I had been told they were organized under the nursing organization but somehow I had not really let it sink in. When we were doing the first pre-conference class, "Midwifery in the Caribbean," the issue arose again. When a midwifery organization is a subcategory of nursing, midwifery does not get the emphasis it needs to be strong and grow. Most conference classes and discussions available are not specific enough to midwifery to really strengthen the practice. Midwifery is a very different profession than nursing with unique issues of its own.

Jan with Debbie Lewis

The lack of a specific midwifery organization has been the fate of most of the Caribbean. However, Jamaica has had a midwifery organization for over 50 years. Trinidad organized one 10 years ago, a powerful example of inclusiveness with its members encompassing traditional, direct entry non-nurse- and nurse-midwives. The Trinidadian midwives assisted Barbados in organizing their midwives as well. The Bahamian midwives attending this class seemed interested and ready to start their own organization. I checked in individually with each of the 10–12 midwives present and found that each of them resonated with the idea. We were really blessed because Debbie Lewis, the co-founder and first president of the Trinidad Midwives Association, was teaching the class with us. She had previously helped to guide the Barbados midwifery association in getting started. She also had just been elected by ICM as one of the two representatives for the Americas. She agreed to assist the Bahamian midwives. Later she told me that she felt this was her first project as ICM representative.

The first meeting was held at the conference on Saturday. This first meeting of their potential organization was exciting and historical. Everyone's reaction seemed very favorable, including the head of nursing and other nursing officials who are midwives themselves. Twenty-five Bahamian midwives attended. The midwives were all ready; they just needed a catalyst. The conference served as just that catalyst.

At that meeting, they decided on a date for another meeting, which has since happened. Here is the report from Yvonne:

The meeting went very well. The turn-out was good and we talked about developing vision and mission statements, goals and objectives, a logo and a name for the association. Everyone was asked to submit ideas. In the meeting planned for next month, we will elect a core of individuals to do the groundwork of the association. (A midwives association that was started about 12 years ago did not prosper. Our plan is to determine how far those plans got and why it didn't prosper.)

We also sang the songs we learned from Robbie Davis-Floyd at the conference. We had a wonderful time and everyone seems excited. Thank you all for everything.

I hope you will be able to join us at one of our conferences. Each is an amazing gathering and new chapter in this Midwifery Today book we are writing together.

Toward Better Birth, jan

Jan Tritten

Jan Tritten is the founder and editor-in-chief of Midwifery Today magazine and a midwife who was in active practice from 1977 to 1989. She became a midwife in 1977 after the powerful homebirth of one of her daughters. Her mission is to make loving midwifery care the norm for birthing women and their babies throughout the world. Meet Jan at our conferences
around the world! [ PHOTO BY ANDREA NOLL ]

1947 Born in Los Angeles, California.1965 Graduated from Placer High School in Auburn, California.1966 Trained for one year as a psychiatric technician. Courses included
basic nursing, pharmacology, microbiology, anatomy and physiology, psychology.1966–1971 Worked at DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, California
as a psychiatric technician.1968 Graduated from Sierra College with an Associate of Arts degree.1970 Graduated with honors from Sacramento State College with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science.1971 Earned Lifetime California teaching credential with fifth-year
program from Sacramento State College.1972 First daughter born in a hospital. It changed my
life forever. It was an unsatisfactory birth experience, but I had a wonderful
postpartum experience with 2-1/2 years of breastfeeding.1976 Second daughter born. She was born at home
with a doctor who talked me into a homebirth. The difference between the
two births sent me on a path to do something to help women have positive
birth experiences.1976 Began training as a midwife. Because I was raising young children
and running a business, and because there were no CNM schools in my area,
becoming a CNM was not within my reach.1977 Began attending births with the Birth Co-op in Eugene while
organizing courses in our community taught by CNMs, physicians, nutritionists,
etc.1978 Began a midwifery practice, New Life Care, with a partner,
Chris Howard, and apprentice Monika Dinsmore.1979 Son born at home.1980 Did a one-year program with Marion Toepke McLean, CNM. Four of us completed the program, which was modeled after CNM curriculum at that time. She took a year off from her practice to teach us and to go to our births with us.1982 First group of midwives certified by the Oregon Midwives Council.
Our board was composed of CNMs and physicians.1986 Slowed down practice and started Midwifery Today magazine.

Don't miss out on the great editorials in Midwifery Today. Subscribe today!